Comments on: Marzano con’t & Corporate Sponsorship in Education http://tweenteacher.com/2009/03/31/marzano-cont-corporate-sponsorship-in-education/ Heather Wolpert-Gawron Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:37:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: heather http://tweenteacher.com/2009/03/31/marzano-cont-corporate-sponsorship-in-education/comment-page-1/#comment-2300 heather Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:16:22 +0000 http://tweenteacher.com/?p=305#comment-2300 I guess my response to that would be, rather than say no to funding, How do we get the bucks and not let them be in control? What measures can we put in place to ensure that educators have the control over education? I would argue that educators aren't necessarily in control AND we don't have the money. How do we get the money without selling out? I guess my point is, we can't say no to well-intentioned funding. Especially since those in control now have questionable intentions. What I would like to spend money on is an audit in education, from the federal level to each site level. Every region I've taught in has lost money to embezzlement or simply un-savvy financing. A little business sense would go a long way. How do we combine our strengths to ensure education has the content and the funding? There's the legend of the superintendent who got the kick back from the antiquated computer lab, despite advice otherwise, had it built, and then took the money and ran. There's the district that wouldn't fund the school psych, the ELL or RSP programs, or buy textbooks for their alternative school. When a board member was asked off the record about the lack of funding, they said that the school needed to make it all work with their Title I funding because their scores didn't warrant their money. There's the union rep at my current school who was just jailed for putting a down payment on her house with our union dues. I don't believe we can close our doors to financial opportunities for schools, but the sources must be policed. But our system right now is set up to loose money, and I am not closed to the idea of outsourcing when we can't do for ourselves. It isn't my preference, but I can't rule it out. Thanks for commenting, Anthony. Hope to talk to you soon! -Heather aka Tweenteacher I guess my response to that would be, rather than say no to funding, How do we get the bucks and not let them be in control? What measures can we put in place to ensure that educators have the control over education? I would argue that educators aren’t necessarily in control AND we don’t have the money. How do we get the money without selling out? I guess my point is, we can’t say no to well-intentioned funding. Especially since those in control now have questionable intentions.

What I would like to spend money on is an audit in education, from the federal level to each site level. Every region I’ve taught in has lost money to embezzlement or simply un-savvy financing. A little business sense would go a long way. How do we combine our strengths to ensure education has the content and the funding?

There’s the legend of the superintendent who got the kick back from the antiquated computer lab, despite advice otherwise, had it built, and then took the money and ran. There’s the district that wouldn’t fund the school psych, the ELL or RSP programs, or buy textbooks for their alternative school. When a board member was asked off the record about the lack of funding, they said that the school needed to make it all work with their Title I funding because their scores didn’t warrant their money. There’s the union rep at my current school who was just jailed for putting a down payment on her house with our union dues.

I don’t believe we can close our doors to financial opportunities for schools, but the sources must be policed. But our system right now is set up to loose money, and I am not closed to the idea of outsourcing when we can’t do for ourselves.

It isn’t my preference, but I can’t rule it out.

Thanks for commenting, Anthony. Hope to talk to you soon!
-Heather
aka Tweenteacher

]]> By: Anthony Cody http://tweenteacher.com/2009/03/31/marzano-cont-corporate-sponsorship-in-education/comment-page-1/#comment-2299 Anthony Cody Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:35:49 +0000 http://tweenteacher.com/?p=305#comment-2299 Heather, I think there is another way that line is being crossed, and that is by 'educational philanthropists,' such as the Broad Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others. We have an elected school board in Oakland, but I would say that over the past decade, these foundations have had a much stronger voice than our elected representatives. As a result, the district bought heavily into the "small schools" movement, once a favorite of Bill Gates. Now we have forty schools we didn't have a decade ago. Many of these small schools are good, but they cost a whole lot more to run. And guess what? The Gates Foundation has decided that small schools are not producing the results they thought they would, so their funding has moved elsewhere. But us in Oakland? We still have all these small schools, and we have to pay for them And our teachers are the lowest paid in the entire Bay Area, and the District is still in debt. So I am not a big fan of corporate control of our schools. They want to call the shots when they pay the bucks, and that seems fundamentally undemocratic. Heather,
I think there is another way that line is being crossed, and that is by ‘educational philanthropists,’ such as the Broad Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others. We have an elected school board in Oakland, but I would say that over the past decade, these foundations have had a much stronger voice than our elected representatives. As a result, the district bought heavily into the “small schools” movement, once a favorite of Bill Gates. Now we have forty schools we didn’t have a decade ago. Many of these small schools are good, but they cost a whole lot more to run. And guess what? The Gates Foundation has decided that small schools are not producing the results they thought they would, so their funding has moved elsewhere. But us in Oakland? We still have all these small schools, and we have to pay for them And our teachers are the lowest paid in the entire Bay Area, and the District is still in debt.

So I am not a big fan of corporate control of our schools. They want to call the shots when they pay the bucks, and that seems fundamentally undemocratic.

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